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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Illinois Senate Week in Review

By State Sen. Jim Oberweis -

Budget outlooks
from both the Governor’s Office and the Legislature’s own bipartisan financial
forecasting agency were on tap Feb. 15, when the Illinois Senate’s two budget
writing committees held a joint hearing in Chicago.

The hearings capped a short but busy week in
the state Senate, which also saw Senate approval of a same-sex marriage
proposal, the adoption of rules to encourage citizens to submit ideas for new
laws, a date change for the Governor’s annual budget message, and a major
increase in licensing fees for the state’s doctors.

Only House Bill 156, moving the date of the
Governor’s budget message to March 6, has been approved by both the Senate and
the House of Representatives. The same-sex marriage proposal and licensing fee
increase for doctors have yet to be considered by the House.

A rules change approved in the Senate,
Senate Resolution 54, will allow citizens who collect 10 or more signatures for
a legislative proposal to have their ideas submitted to the Senate. The
proposals for new laws would be reviewed by a special Senate committee for
possible consideration as legislation.

Receiving the most attention was the same-sex
marriage proposal. Senate Bill 10 was approved after extensive debate both in
committee and on the Senate floor. Proponents argued that giving same sex-couples
the right to marriage was a civil rights issue. Opponents, including myself,
focused primarily on concerns that the Illinois law could have unintended
consequences for churches and religious institutions that view same sex
marriage as contrary to their tenets.

In debate on the Senate floor, opponents raised
concerns that the broad language of the measure could subject churches which
oppose same sex marriage to costly lawsuits simply for adhering to their
beliefs.

Others questioned the priorities of the Senate
President, who expedited consideration of the same-sex marriage proposal while
pension and workers’ compensation reforms, which are critical to our state’s
economy, languish.

The state economy was the central focus when
the two Senate Appropriation Committees met Feb. 15 to hear economic
assessments from the Governor’s budget office, the Legislature’s own financial
forecasting agency and the state’s Revenue Department.

An extensive analysis from Moody’s Analytics was
grim, declaring Illinois “is one of just a handful nationally in danger of
falling back into recession” and adding “Illinois has been among the Midwest’s
weakest and is underperforming the nation in most economic gauges.”

Earlier in the month, the Legislature’s
Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability presented a similar assessment to the House
revealing that the economic recovery from the 2007-2009 recession has seen the
weakest growth since the World War II era.

In almost every economic indicator, the reports
show Illinois lags behind the rest of the nation and faces significant hurdles
to job growth. Moody’s Analytics warned that as the rest of the nation
recovers, Illinois will “trail the region and nation by an even larger margin
in 2013.”

However, there were bright spots in the
analysis, notably in the manufacturing and in tech- and science-based
industries.

In manufacturing, Illinois is recovering jobs
more rapidly than the rest of the country and the state’s percentage of manufacturing
jobs is actually slightly higher than the nation’s. Slightly more than 10% of
the state’s workforce is in manufacturing and outside Chicago, manufacturing
accounts for 13.1% of the state’s jobs. Yet, even in that sector, Moody’s
cautioned that most of the 305,000 manufacturing jobs lost since 1997 will not
return.

Other key findings:

Income in Illinois
fell more sharply during the recession and has risen by less than the rest
of our country during the recovery;

The national
unemployment rate in January 2013 was 7.8%. Illinois’ rate was 8.7%;

One of Illinois’
greatest strengths is its skilled and educated workforce. About 31% of
Illinois residents have college degrees and 12% have post-graduate
degrees. Both figures are above the national average;

The 2011 tax hike
sent Illinois into the bottom half of the nation in terms of tax climate
with the major increase in business taxes being “the single biggest reason
for the recent slippage in the state’s tax climate.” Illinois now has the
fourth highest corporate tax rate in the nation;

Illinois is
suffering from weak population growth and in 2012, a net 44,000 residents
left the state. Even in the Midwest, Illinois is trailing its neighbors
meaning “the state is losing out to its closest competitors to attracting
and maintaining residents;”

The state’s largest
number of out-migrants aren’t moving to a sunbelt state, but rather to
Indiana;

Despite strong
competition from South America and Asia, the outlook for Illinois
agriculture is good, in part led by increasing demand for ethanol;

Lake County and
Rockford account for more than 90% of the state’s foreclosed properties.
The state’s foreclosure rate is twice the Midwest average and second
highest after Florida;

Illinois’ extensive
transportation network is a key factor for economic growth. Illinois is
the nation’s top rail hub with more than 7,300 miles of track and 42
different railroads.

In other legislative action, a bill increasing
licensing fees for doctors (SB 622) was also sent to the House for
consideration. The state’s Medical Disciplinary Fund does not have enough money
to cover the cost of licensing doctors in Illinois. The bill increases physician
licensing fees and loans the Medical Disciplinary Fund $6.6 million to be
repaid from the higher fees.

Though I had significant reservations, I voted
“yes” on Senate Bill 622.

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Illinois Senate Week in Review

By State Sen. Jim Oberweis -

Budget outlooks
from both the Governor’s Office and the Legislature’s own bipartisan financial
forecasting agency were on tap Feb. 15, when the Illinois Senate’s two budget
writing committees held a joint hearing in Chicago.

The hearings capped a short but busy week in
the state Senate, which also saw Senate approval of a same-sex marriage
proposal, the adoption of rules to encourage citizens to submit ideas for new
laws, a date change for the Governor’s annual budget message, and a major
increase in licensing fees for the state’s doctors.